According to an NHRC statement, the Commission issued notice to the Secretary of the ministry and has given him four weeks time to respond.

The notice was issued after the rights panel took cognisance of a media report alleging fierce caste-based discrimination and violence in the PU hostel accommodating Dalit students.

The panel has also received a complaint from an NGO, Navsarjan Trust of Ahmedabad, quoting media reports that 18 Dalit students committed suicides during the last four years in premier educational institutions including IIT-Mumbai, IISc–Bengaluru, IIT-Kanpur, AIIMS, the statement said.

It has observed that the news report, if true, reflects widespread prevalence of discrimination towards Dalits in the educational institutions driving them to take extreme steps.

“The state has the responsibility and duty to ensure that an atmosphere is created in educational institutions wherein everyone, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, can pursue studies. The Constitution has also elaborate provisions to stop discrimination against the Dalits,” the statement said.

Published: May 24, 2013

London, United Kingdom (May 24, 2013): The Sikh Federation (UK) has urged all those concerned with the death penalty in India and the case of Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar to push for not only the death penalty to be commuted, but for his immediate release given how long he has been in prison and the state of his health.

The statement by the Sikh Federation (UK) follows the ruling by the medical board set up by the Indian Government to look at Professor Bhullar’s health, which it has been reported has come to the conclusion that he suffers from severe depression with psychotic symptoms and suicidal tendencies.

‘What this should mean in any civilised society is that Professor Bhullar cannot now be executed. Someone on death row who is declared not to be physically and mentally fit cannot be executed.’

‘Professor Bhullar’s family and his doctors have repeatedly stated he has almost certainly become severely psychiatric because of the delay in deciding his mercy petition. The Indian state is directly responsible for the state of his health and the Home Minister; Sushilkumar Shinde should do the decent thing by recommending to the Indian President that the death penalty should be commuted. ‘

Shinde has already had many official approaches and stated recently he was considering Professor Bhullar’s case. He now has the verdict of their own three-member board comprised chairperson Dr S K Khandelwal of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and psychiatrists from Maulana Azad Medical College and G B Pant Hospital.

There have also been many unprecedented statements from former and current senior judges, former leading police officers and others in support of Professor Bhullar that have gone as far as to say as far as they are concerned he is innocent and deserves to receive compensation from the Indian state for his false imprisonment and for the mental and physical suffering or torture he has endured in the last 18 years.

The Sikh Federation (UK) has also welcomed the statement yesterday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg by EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger on the death penalty in India and the case of Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar. Bhai Amrik Singh said:

‘The EU has also commented on their concerns about Professor Bhullar and that his mental health has come about as he has had to wait for more than a decade for the decision on his mercy plea.’

In the European Parliament yesterday it was stated:

‘The EU has constantly sought to engage with the Indian authorities on the capital punishment and its application in the country, and will continue doing so. To this end, we must make full use of the Human rights dialogue that takes places locally. We look forward to receiving a date from the Indian government to hold the next meeting, postponed several times in the recent past, as rapidly as possible.’

‘Direct contacts with the Indian government, including by way of diplomatic representations and demarches, will continue too. The EU Delegation in Delhi has been proactively asking the Indian government to set up a meeting to be appraised on the developments on capital punishment in India. Once again, our hope is that such a meeting can take place urgently.

In her complaint to police, the young woman alleged that she was gangraped by the five men late Tuesday night. The three others involved in the crime were friends of her brothers-in-laws, police said. The accused have all been arrested.

According to the woman, a resident of RK Puram, the men came to meet her husband for some personal work on Tuesday night. The woman said her husband was not at home at the time, but when she returned to her house, she found the men drinking alcohol there.

“She left to go elsewhere, but the men overpowered her and took her to an empty plot,” a police official said, quoting victim’s complaint.

“They snatched her bag and took turns to rape her. The woman somehow fled and sought help from a passerby who made a call to the police control room,” the official said.

“She was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre for medical examination. Her medical examination confirmed gangrape,” the officer said, quoting the woman’s complaint. On the basis of her statement, the police officer said, a case of gangrape was registered.

The accused were arrested after late-night raids, and presented before a magistrate who sent the five to judicial custody for 14 days, the officer said.

Women activists of BJP remove police barricade outside UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi‘s residence during a protest against the rape of of the 5-year-old girl in New Delhi.

BHOPAL: At a time when the whole nation is outraged by the alleged rape of a 5-year-old girl child in New Delhi, a Madhya Pradesh minister went on record claiming the number of rapes as still less when compared to the total population.While Delhi‘s 5-year-old is under medical treatment in AIIMS, another little girl of her age from Madhya Pradesh is still fighting for her life in a hospital in Nagpur. The second child, also a victim of gang-rape, from Ghansor in Sheoni was flown out in a critical condition to Maharashtra for treatment. Her condition is critical.

But an insensitive minister of state for urban administration and development, Manohar Utwal, on Saturday said, “Evaluating the population of the Madhya Pradesh, the number of rapes is not that high.” Madhya Pradesh continues to be the rape capital of the country with the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) revealing the largest number of the heinous offence being reported in the state. In 2011-12, NCRB records showed a total 3,406 rapes in the state.

Speaking to reporters in Jaora town in Ratlam district, the minister justified, “In a state where total the population exceeds 7.5 crore, only 4,500 rapes have been reported this year.” He further defended that rape statistics is high in Madhya Pradesh because the police diligently records every complaint.

Manohar Utwal’s inconsiderate comment comes less than a week after an MP cabinet minister Vijay Shah was sacked for making sexist remarks against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan‘s wife while addressing a students’ gathering in the tribal dominated Jhabua district. With such reckless anti-women observations coming from state ministers, the Congress opposition in Madhya Pradesh isfurious.

Congress’ leader of opposition Ajay Singh on Sunday said, “By the way the state ministers are speaking, it is clear that the BJP government has no respect for women and have no intention or desire to protect them. To compare the population of the state to the number of rapes and justify the crime just brings out the BJP’s anti-woman mentality.”

A five year old girl is now in a critical condition in a Delhi hospital after being brutalized and raped by a neighbour. The Delhi police, which has dealt with the situation with its characteristic incompetence, first refused to file an FIR when her parents went to the police station, and then, tried to bribe the girls parents with two thousand rupees so as to ‘hush them up’. Subsequently,a young woman who tried to protest against the behaviour of the police at the Dayanand Hospital were the girl was initially taken for treatment was slapped by a policeman, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, in full public view. His actions have been recorded on video. It is believed that the policemen who tried to bribe the victim’s parents and the policeman who slapped the young woman have been suspended.

But can the suspension of a few individuals address what is obviously a deep rooted culture of misogyny within the Delhi Police? Is more severe and strict action that goes right to the top and to the source, not necessary in order to send a signal that this kind of behaviour within the police force cannot be tolerated? Must Delhi’s police commissioner not be compelled to resign, for his abysmal failure in terms of dealing with sexism and for failing to address the contempt for citizens that is now clearly endemic to the Delhi Police’s work culture?

Can we take this daily routine of insults lying down? How long can this continue?

The young women and men of Delhi displayed exemplary fortitude and courage in the days following the tragic events of December last year when they took on the full might of the administrative, police and political apparatus in solidarity with the suffering that one of their own had to undergo. Clearly their coming out on to the streets has not changed anything insofar as the conduct of those in power is concerned. There has to be a change of plan.

A protest is planned today in the morning at 11 am in front of the Police Headquarters at ITO in Delhi. It would be good to see a lot of people turn up and say to the police that they have just had enough now.

Perhaps it is time to hand out an ultimatum. Either those at the helm of the Delhi Police offer time bound, concrete plans for how they intend to take steps that will ensure that policemen behave themselves while dealing with citizens, especially young woman, either the police commissioner resigns, or is hounded out of office, or the young people of this city take it upon itself to teach these hooligans in uniform, regardless of their rank, a lesson that they will not forget, in a manner, and at a time of their choosing. Care must be taken to ensure that protests do not turn violent, for that would be pointless. But there are many other ways, besides violence, of turning this city ungovernable, if the police and the administration once again demonstrate that they don’t really care about our lives, our rights, our dignity.

We have had a winter of discontent. Could this now be the beginning of a summer of open, outright rebellion? Only the coming days can tell.

Another rape: Anger rises, protests spread in Delhi as 5-year-old victim battles for life

NEW DELHI: A 200 ml bottle and pieces of candle were inserted into the private parts of the five-year-old rape victim, a doctor said on Friday, adding that he had “never seen such a case”.

“Upon examination, we found a 200 ml bottle and two or three pieces of candle inserted into her private parts. This is the first time that I have seen such barbarism with a five-year-old,” RK Bansal, medical superintendent, Swami Dayanand Hospital, told reporters.

“There were injuries on her lips and cheeks and bruise marks on her neck, suggesting that attempts were made to strangle her. The blood pressure was way below normal, and she had fever when she was admitted,” the doctor said.

“The child’s condition is very critical. She is in ICU right now and will be under observation for the next 24-48 hours,” he said.

The girl was abducted on April 15 and kept hostage for two days without food and water in a flat owned by the attacker, said to be in his 30s. He lived on the ground floor of the building in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar, in which the victim’s family also stayed, police said.

The girl, who was raped repeatedly, was rescued when members of her family heard her screams on Wednesday evening, police said.

Meanwhile, family, neighbours and activists of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on Friday protested outside the hospital where she was admitted in a serious condition.

“The police tried to suppress the matter and even offered Rs 2,000 to the family to keep quiet. On top of that, the child was admitted to a hospital which does not even have proper facilities and equipment,” AAP spokesperson Aswathi Muralidharan said.

“We want a better hospital and immediate arrest of the accused,” she said.

The girl’s father told reporters that he had earlier approached the police with a complaint that his daughter was missing, but they failed to register his complaint.

A woman, who had alleged that she was raped and had consequently conceived, was allowed to abort the baby by the Delhi High Court which termed it as “extremely traumatic” and asked AIIMS to preserve the foetus for conducting DNA test.

“To carry a child in her womb by a woman as a result of conception through an act of rape is extremely traumatic, humiliating and psychologically devastating,” Justice S P Garg said, while allowing the plea of the 22-year-old woman seeking permission to terminate the forced pregnancy.

The woman lodged an FIR against one Kapil alleging that he had established physical relations with her on the false promise of marriage. He had also concealed the fact that he was a married man, the woman had alleged.

Allowing her plea, the court said, “X (the victim) hails from the poor strata of the society and is likely to face innumerable mental, physical, social and economical problems in future. There are no reasons to prevent her not to exercise her option voluntarily in her interest.

“…the petition is allowed with the direction to the SHO of the concerned police station or any other responsible police officer with lady police officer to accompany the complainant ‘X’ and produce her before Medical Superintendent, AIIMS within three days to get her pregnancy terminated where Board of two medical practitioners would be constituted by the Medical Superintendent on that day itself.

“They shall preserve the foetus and DNA test will be conducted thereupon and its report shall be produced before the Trial Court at the earliest.”

The court also said the girl “be provided proper medicine, diet and nutritious food as may be necessary for her health.”

It was said in the plea that the girl was “unable to carry the pregnancy to full term due to social stigma as she is victim of rape.”

* Budget Allocation of Rs.37, 300 crores to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Of this, the new National Health Mission that combines the rural mission and the proposed urban mission will get Rs.21,239 crore, an increase of 24.3 percent over the RE.

* Allocation of Rs. 4,727 crores for medical education, training and research

* Allocation of Rs. 150 crores for the National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly. This programme is being implemented in 100 selected districts of 21 States. Eight regional geriatric centers are being funded for the development of dedicated geriatric departments.

* Allocation of Rs. 1,069 crore to the Department of AYUSH for mainstreaming Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy through the National Health Mission

* Allocation of Rs.1,650 crore for he six AIIMS-like institutions being set up

* Allocation of Rs. Rs.17,700 crore in 2013-14, compared to Rs.15,850 crore in 2012-13, which is an increase of around 11.7%

* A multi-sectoral programme for reducing maternal and child malnutrition that was announced last year will be implemented in 100 districts during 2013-14 and it will be scaled up to cover 200 districts the year after. Allocation of Rs. 300 crore for the programme in 2013-14.

The Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana covers 34 million families
below the poverty line. It will now be
extended to other categories such as rickshaw, auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers,
sanitation workers, rag pickers and mine workers.

The Budget proposes a comprehensive and integrated social
security package for the unorganised sector that will benefit the poorest and
most vulnerable sections of society. The
package should include life-cum-disability cover, health cover, maternity
assistance and pension benefits. The
present schemes such as AABY, JSBY, RSBY, JSY and IGMSY are run by different
ministries and departments. The Budget
proposes to facilitate convergence among the various stakeholder
ministries/departments so that we can evolve a comprehensive social security
package

Direct Taxes

Contributions made to the Central Government Health Scheme are
eligible for deduction under section 80D of the Income-tax Act. The budget proposes to extend the same
benefit to similar schemes of the Central Government and State Governments.

Indirect Taxes

The budget proposes to provide for MRP based assessment in
respect of branded medicaments of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and
bio-chemic systems of medicine. There
will be an abatement of 35 percent.

Gayatri of Feminist Approach to Technology (FAT), Delhi, informs of yet another awful crime that took place yesterday in Jal Vihar, in New Delhi . FAT runs a Tech Centre for girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Jal Vihar is one such basti. One of the girls from the Tech Centre was sexually assaulted yesterday; the guy attempted to rape her when she was home alone. He also apparently tried to murder her after that. Luckily, she survived and was taken to AIIMS. The guy turns out to be the brother of two other girls who also come to the Tech Centre. He was caught in Badarpur.

Gayatri and her colleague Asha are right now in AIIMS trying to get more information about the status of the young girl.

The young women of the Tech Centre know who he is and are very angry that this has happened in their own basti. They want to do a protest in Jal Vihar tomorrow afternoon, to discuss this with members of their own community, and register their anger.

We are anguished beyond words at the news this morning of the death in a Singapore hospital of the young woman who was brutally assaulted and gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi on 16th December.

We hold the Government of India, which took the decision of moving her out of the country despite her fragile condition, against medical advice, responsible for hastening her death.

It is clear that this was a political decision, taken with a cynical and callous disregard for the survival of the young woman.

According to Dr Samiran Nandy, a renowned transplant surgeon of the country, “I just can’t understand why a critically ill patient with infection in blood and body, high grade fever and on the ventilator is being transferred. It will take weeks in this case to even look into the possibility of an intestinal transplant, so why hurry and take the patient out from a facility which works so well. It seems more of a political move”.

Dr Kaushar Mishra of Primus Hospital has expressed similar views, “There is no question of a transplant at this stage. The infection has to be controlled first, and the patient stabilized. I do not understand what the hurry was to take the patient out. Safdarjang Hospital, like other major hospitals in India, has excellent medical facilities and doctors to take care of the critically ill’.

Yet another senior doctor of AIIMS has said, “When the Prime Minister can be treated and operated here, what is the specific medical need to move a patient to Singapore? What the government is saying does not seem to add up”.

Medical experts across the board are of the view that the doctors at Safdarjang Hospital were doing an excellent job and were taking good care of her.

Indeed, at a time when the government itself is promoting and advertising India as a destination for medical tourism and does not tire of boasting of the excellent medical expertise that the country has, we fail to see why this hurry to move the young woman out of the country on supposedly medical grounds of good treatment, and contrary to expert medical opinion?

The Head of the JPN Apex Trauma Centre, AIIMS, is reported as saying that `the decision was okayed keeping in mind the best interest of the patient and as directed by the Government’1. According to newspaper reports the CM Sheila Dixit was among the first to suggest this idea of treatment abroad.

The manner in which this lethal decision was taken, with even Health Ministry officials being kept in the dark, shows that it was no more than another cynical gambit in the game of evading accountability for violence against women – yet another attempt to hide from the justified anger of the thousands of citizens on the streets of Delhi who are no longer taken in by the paeans to “good governance” and “progress” trotted out by the government.

The cynicism, callousness and sheer barbarity with which the ruling establishment has handled the public protests of the last weeks matches the brutality of the rape itself and proves their complicity in creating and sustaining a ruthless social, political and economic order that subjects millions of Indian women to violence on a daily basis.

We demand a public enquiry into the decision to shift the young woman out of the country.

We demand a public acceptance of culpability by the Chief Minister of Delhi, the Prime Minister and the President.

We demand justice for the young woman whose untimely and unnecessary death we are mourning today.

LET US NOT FORGET that this tragic incident is the latest in a long chronicle of cases of sexual violence ignored, covered up, denied and condoned by the government.

We demand immediate cancellation of bail and fast-tracking of trials in the 1 lakh rape cases currently pending in courts.